ALL THE WORLD IS A STAGE

DEBORAH HORNBLOW; Courant Staff WriterTHE HARTFORD COURANT

While the cineplex is gorged with the shoot-'em-up, smash-'em-to-pieces f/x films of summer, cineastes with more refined tastes can seek refuge in a surprising place: It is home, in front of the TV screen.

For those in possession of a cable package including the Sundance Channel, summertime brings a collection of classics to the home box office. For the second year running, Sundance presents classics of world cinema from the Criterion Collection.

Seventeen titles will be shown on successive Saturdays and Sundays at 9 p.m. throughout July and August. This year's ground-breaking, often hard-to-find films include Akira Kurosawa's "Rashomon," Federico Fellini's "Juliet of the Spirits" and Liliana Cavani's controversial and erotic "The Night Porter."

Here is the complete list of titles, with descriptions provided by Sundance:

Saturday -- Juliet of the Spirits

In Fellini's 1965 feature, his first color film, an unhappy housewife (played by the director's wife, Giulietta Masina) is launched on a hallucinatory journey of self-discovery after her philandering husband forgets their wedding anniversary.

Sunday -- The Last Wave

Australian director Peter Weir conjures an atmosphere of otherworldly mystery in this 1977 film about a lawyer (Richard Chamberlain) who begins having disturbing visions after he agrees to represent a group of aborigines accused of murder.

July 13 -- Branded To Kill

Seijun Suzuki's 1967 film is a gonzo yakuza thriller that follows the blood-soaked travails of No. 3 Killer, a gangster whose last botched job has made him the target of No. 1 Killer.

July 14 -- Alphaville

Jean-Luc Godard's 1965 fusion of film noir, science fiction and dystopian allegory stars Eddie Constantine as Lemmy Caution, a special agent whose latest mission leads him to the lonely streets of Alphaville, a city ruled by a supercomputer.

July 20 -- Cries and Whispers

In Ingmar Bergman's haunting 1972 masterpiece, a dying woman (Harriet Andersson) transcends the pettiness of her squabbling sisters (Liv Ullmann and Ingrid Thulin) as she recalls moments from the lives they shared.

Milos Forman helped kick off the vibrant Czech New Wave with this sexy and subtly subversive 1965 comedy about a young woman looking for love in a drab factory town.

July 28 -- The Cranes Are Flying

Mikhail Kalatozov's sweeping, gorgeously photographed 1957 love story concerns a young couple whose blissful romance is sundered when Russia enters World War II.

Aug. 3 -- Rashomon

Akira Kurosawa's 1950 masterpiece is an electrifying inquiry into subjectivity and truth. "Rashomon" tells the story of a rape and murder from four different perspectives: the two victims, the perpetrator and the sole witness.

Aug. 4 -- Le Trou (The Hole)

Jacques Becker's taut 1960 thriller is based on a true story about five prisoners plotting their escape from a Paris jail cell.

Aug. 10 -- Le Million

Rene Clair's effervescent 1931 musical comedy chronicles the adventures of an impoverished artist who combs the streets of Paris to retrieve a winning lottery ticket.

Aug. 11 -- Day of Wrath

Carl Theodor Dreyer's 1943 melodrama is set during the witch hunts of 17th-century Denmark.

Aug. 17 -- The Firemen's Ball

The last film Milos Forman made in his native Czechoslovakia, this riotous 1967 farce charts the progress of a volunteer firemen's gala.

Aug. 18 -- Ballad of a Soldier

In Grigori Chukhraj's 1959 drama, a heroic Russian soldier observes hope and devastation alike as he travels home to see his mother.

Aug. 24 -- The Night Porter

In Vienna in 1957, a chance meeting between a concentration camp survivor (Charlotte Rampling) and her former captor/lover (Dirk Bogarde) sparks an obsessive re-creation of their sadomasochistic affair in Liliana Cavani's erotic, controversial 1974 film.

Aug. 25 -- La Bete Humaine

Jean Renoir's 1938 classic features the great Jean Gabin as a psychologically troubled train engineer whose affair with the stationmaster's wife (Simone Simon) leads to tragedy.